26 PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH 



allegory, entitled the « Thrissill and the Rois," on the union of James IV. and the Princess 

 Margaret of England. The expressive motto was not added until 1579 ; it first appears on tne 

 coinage of James VI., where it surrounds the Thistle that occupies the centre of the com. It was 

 not, however, altogether an original idea, though the application of it was so admirable as f' ^ancis 

 Sforza, at an earlier date, on taking possession, amidst considerable contention, ot the ^^^te ot 

 Milan, assumed as his bearing a greyhound, and the motto, "Quiefum nemo tmpune lacessit 1 he 

 Thistle gives its name to an order of knighthood. Enthusiastic antiquarians ascribe a tabulous 

 antiquity to the Order of the Thistle ; but its real institution, or, as some would say, revival, took 

 place in the year 1657, during the reign of James II. of Great Britain. James I. of England, but 

 VI. of Scotland, on his accession to the throne of the United Kingdom, took as a badge a compound 

 form, half Rose half Thistle, a central upright line dividing them. The stalk supporting this 

 curious flower has on the one side a Rose leaf, on the other that of a Thistle. This impalenient, 

 as it would be termed heraldically, of the Rose and Thistle is borne on the arms of the Earls of 

 Kinnoull. The Thistle occurs too in the arms of the Aberdeens ; while, in the reign of Hairy 

 VIII., Sir William Finch bore as a badge a greenfinch standing on a Thistle flower. The 

 Stuarts adopted as a badge the Cotton Thistle (Onopordum acanthium) ; it is a scarce plant in 

 Scotland, and, though sometimes cultivated as the veritable Scottish Thistle, can have but little 

 claim on our recognition as the badge of the nation. 



PLATE 13. 



" That which proves 

 Strong poison unto me, another loves. 

 And eats, and lives : thus Hemlock juice prevails, 

 And kills a man, but fattens goats and quails." — Creech's Lucretius. 



The plant we have chosen for representation, the Henbane (HyoscyaMus niger), though 

 not often to be met with, and therefore of unfamiliar appearance, is one that we are persuaded will 

 prove a valuable addition to the designer's store, the leaves, blossoms, and fruit being alike striking 

 in form, and of that due proportion to each other that is so important an element for the considera- 

 tion of the ornamentist. The plant must be sought for on rubbish heaps and waste land about 

 villages and ruins. It is distributed sparingly over the whole of England and Ireland and the 

 South of Scotland, and may be found in flower during most of the Summer months. The flowers 

 are in one-sided and leafy spikes, rolled up in a circinate manner during the early stages of 

 flowering, but which gradually elongate until they present a line of some ten to twenty blossoms. 

 The early stage is that which, owing to our limited space, we have here represented. The calyx 

 during the flowering is small and foliaceous (fig. 1 20) in texture and appearance ; but becomes 

 larger as the fruit ripens (fig. 1 1 7), and is much more solid and rigid to the touch, the five terminal 

 points becoming prickly. The whole plant is very hairy and viscid, and has an extremely nauseous 

 smell. 



The Henbane is one of our most powerful narcotic plants : it is a dangerous poison, but, 

 under certain circumstances, and with due caution, becomes a valuable remedial agent from its 

 sedative properties. The natural supply not being sufficient for the requirements of the pharma- 

 copoeia, it is raised in considerable quantities, as a field crop, in the neighbourhood of Mitcham, in 

 Surrey, a place long famous for its herb gardens. Cases of accidental poisoning are not common, 

 as the plant is at once too scarce and too unpleasant when found to afford much temptation to 

 children, while it does not at all resemble any culinary vegetable ; these are the two ordinary causes 

 of such mistakes — either a plant (like the Deadly Nightshade, with its cherry-like fruit) tempts 

 little fingers to gather it, from its resemblance to some fruit they know, or from its own tempting 

 appearance ; or it is taken in mistake by older persons (as in the case of the ^tkusa Cynapium, 

 having leaves somewhat like those of the Garden Parsley) for some esculent. Children have, 

 however, with serious consequences, eaten the fruit in mistake for filberts. Sir Hans Sloane 

 relates a case where a child, after such a mistake, though it ultimately recovered, remained for 

 fifty hours in a profound sleep. The roots have been eaten in error with the most terrible 

 results. Woodville mentions an instance where the leaves were boiled in a soup ; all who partook 

 of it became delirious, catching wildly at things about them, and in all ways exhibiting the 

 symptoms of acute mania ; while Gerarde, in his quaint English, says — " The leaves, seed, and 

 juice taken inwardly, cause an unquiet sleepe, like unto the sleepe of drunkennesse, which con- 

 tinueth long, and is deadly to the party." The Henbane belongs to the same order of plants as 

 the Deadly Nightshade (fig. 271) and the dangerous Thorn-apple (fig. 321): an order containing 

 many other acrid and narcotic species. Linnaeus called the plants comprising this order Lurida, 



